Zhang Juzheng

Also known as Zi Shuda · Hao Taiyue

Zhang Juzheng, courtesy name Shuda, styled Taiyue, came from Jiangling in Huguang. He passed the jinshi examination in 1547, entered the Grand Secretariat in 1567, and in 1572, when the boy Wanli emperor came to the throne, joined the eunuch Feng Bao to oust Gao Gong and became senior grand secretary. In 1573 he introduced a system of ledgers and deadlines for auditing officials' performance; in 1578 he ordered a resurvey of farmland across the empire, and in 1581 he extended the Single Whip method, which merged taxes and labor service into one silver payment, to the whole country. He posted Qi Jiguang to guard Jizhou and Li Chengliang to hold Liaodong, and put Pan Jixun in charge of the Yellow and Huai rivers. He died in office in 1582 and was named Wenzhong, but within two years the court stripped his titles, confiscated his family's property and drove his eldest son to suicide. His original rank was restored in 1622, and under Chongzhen his descendants' hereditary privileges were returned.